Pointing way on new course at Ripon

The West of Yore Steeplechases are being staged on Sunday. These are being held at a new course at Whitcliffe Grange near Ripon.

Yorkshire owners and trainers have supported the event well and there have also been entries from as far away as Cheshire and Anglesey. A total of 120 entries have been received.

The most popular race is the Open Maiden with 36 entries and an early decision was taken to divide this race, resulting in seven races with the last one being run at 3pm.

Racing begins at 12 noon with the PPORA Club Members' Conditions race. Entries for this include the very successful My Old Piano.

The second race is the Men's Open, which is being run in memory of the late Peter Calver, who used to train at Whitcliffe Grange.

The course will be signposted from the Ripon by-pass and the postcode is HG4 3AS.

Cheltenham's opening race at its festival on Tuesday, March 16 will be called the Spinal Research Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

The race is being sponsored by the Stewart family, headed by businessman and owner Andy Stewart, whose son Paul suffered a severe spinal injury in a snowboarding accident in December, 2008. He was paralysed from the waist down and told that he would never walk again. However, pioneering treatment in the UK and in Miami has seen Paul progress to the stage where he can now get around with only a walking stick.